Blog No. 367
It’s December and even though I get nearly two weeks off from the day job, it still ends up being the busiest month of the year. Some of that is the regular holiday and family stuff (shopping is the worst, but giving gifts is pretty nice) but mostly it’s the glut of rentals that all require extra work. One of the things I do at the day job that just happened to somehow become my responsibility over time, is building stages and repositioning the theater lights. It’s extra work that, while not fun or easy on the body, is money that I can certainly use. Having to be the one (effectively) in charge of it is the worst, but in the end, it has to be done one way or another, so I may as well get the extra couple of hours on my paycheck. The problem comes when there are three concerts, a recital, and another performance that all require the stage, all require it to be configured differently, and are all on top of each other.
Thankfully the guy who does the rentals did a great job of getting most of the rentals to use the same stage and lighting. Unfortunately, the one who demanded the stage (and therefor lighting to compensate) be different happened the morning after a large concert that went late into the night. That meant that I had to come in extra early to take down one stage just to put up another, then redo the lighting setup before working my full shift. It’s not fun, and that kind of time commitment eats into my writing time, and makes me so tired that if I do manage to squeeze in a session, I peter out early. That week of stages is an extreme example, but my next two weeks are equally busy. I’m working every day but two from now until the 20th. Again, that’s a nice paycheck (especially since I’m off from then until the new year minus a couple of rental shifts) but I would much rather be writing.
Thankfully, I’ve made a little more progress on the comic and I’m meeting with Glen this week to see if I’m on the right track with what he had envisioned. While it’s been pretty fun, it’s also been challenging and I’d like to get on to the third draft of Broadcast Wasteland sooner rather than later. Plus I have some short stories to finish for a few things and the deadlines are looming and I have to get back on the novel. There may be another fun, yet previously unexpected project that will take a good amount of my time in the later half of 2020. If it comes to fruition, I’d like to have a lot of writing done before it starts and inevitably takes up all my time.
On top of that I still haven’t gotten around to looking for events for next year. I’m late and it’s getting later by the day. I’d like to do another writing retreat too. It’s been a while and I think I’m in a good place to take advantage of one. On top of everything, I promised two people to do layouts for them, and I have no idea when they will cash in, but that’s not a big deal. In the mean time, I’m in a rush to get the last few presents before Christmas and fit in some family time. I try to get things done early, but inevitably, there are some things that slip through the cracks and I get to run around to tie off the loose ends. I sure am looking forward to that week and a bit, minus a couple of shifts, off. Along with some writing work, I’m definitely going to do some time wasting!
Ben Van Dongen 